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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28431540">But the tigers come at night</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/comicc_bookk_jawnss/pseuds/comicc_bookk_jawnss'>comicc_bookk_jawnss</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Caretaker Dani [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Haunting of Bly Manor (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst with a Happy Ending, Comfort/Angst, F/F, Fluff and Angst</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 20:01:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,319</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28431540</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/comicc_bookk_jawnss/pseuds/comicc_bookk_jawnss</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>During their road trip across America, Dani wakes up one night to find Jamie's not in bed. Then, she sees why: Jamie's having a nightmare.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dani Clayton &amp; Jamie, Dani Clayton/Jamie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Caretaker Dani [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2146191</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>112</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>But the tigers come at night</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dani didn’t usually wake up in the middle of the night — not anymore, not when she was holding Jamie. But as it turned out, she wasn’t.</p><p>Dani opened her eyes to find the spot to her left empty. She pushed herself up onto her forearm and rubbed her eyes. It was 2:30 a.m. according to the alarm clock on their nightstand. She sat up fully now to scan their motel room. No light seeping out under the bathroom door. No sign of her.</p><p>Just as Dani was starting to panic, she heard mumbling to her left. She whipped her head over. Still nothing. And then it hit her. She inched to the edge of the bed and looked down. There was Jamie: sleeping fitfully on the floor with a raggedy blanket and absurdly flat pillow she must’ve taken from the closet. As Dani watched, Jamie’s shaking worsened, and she started crying out.</p><p>Dani immediately hopped down and knelt beside her, cupping her face, which was beaded with sweat.</p><p>“Jamie… Jamie!”</p><p>Jamie began jerking so violently Dani could barely hold on.</p><p>“JAMIE!”</p><p>That got her attention. But Jamie wasn’t out of the woods. Eyes open, but darting around frantically, she started hyperventilating and immediately scrambled away from Dani, surveying the room.</p><p>“Jamie, it’s me!”</p><p>Dani turned away for a moment to fumble with the lamp on the nightstand. When she turned back around Jamie was sitting against the door to their room. She instinctively shut her eyes and threw a hand up to shield them from the sudden illumination. Dani, blinking herself as her eyes adjusted, rushed over.</p><p>Crouching down in front of her, she gently took Jamie’s free hand in both of hers and started massaging it.</p><p>“It’s me, honey,” Dani said, softly. “It’s me.”</p><p>Jamie, still breathing heavily but more evenly now, slowly opened her eyes, blinking a few times. Taking Dani in, she lowered her other hand after a moment.</p><p>Dani could see now that Jamie’s hair was also slick with sweat, some curls sticking to her face, and her shirt was almost soaked through. Clearly, she had been in this state for a while before Dani had noticed. Dani went to speak, but Jamie took the words right out of her mouth.</p><p>“I’m sorry.”</p><p>With that, Jamie slipped out of Dani’s grasp, sliding against the door to stand up, then shakily walked past her, heading for the bathroom. Turning around, Dani went to call after her but then hesitated. She’d never seen Jamie like this. Maybe Jamie did actually need some space. As if on cue, Dani heard her turn on water for a shower. Well, that made sense. She probably wanted to wash up.</p><p>But after two minutes, Dani could take the torture no longer and knocked on the door.</p><p>“You okay?”</p><p>No reply. Jamie probably hadn’t even heard her, which was probably for the best. It was a stupid question. Of course, she wasn’t okay. She would check in again when Jamie was done, when she was ready. But just as Dani was turning away, she heard the water shut off.</p><p>“Come in,” said an uncharacteristically small voice.</p><p>Dani slowly opened the door to find Jamie almost exactly as she’d last seen her: sat down hugging her knees to her chest. The shower curtain was drawn back, but evidently Jamie hadn’t actually gone in at all. When Jamie looked up at her, Dani could see why.</p><p>Her eyes were calmer but now red-rimmed. She’d turned the water on, not for her benefit, but for Dani’s. Jamie looked back down a second later and wiped her nose with the collar of her T-shirt.</p><p>“I guess I should’a known that wouldn’t work on you.”</p><p>She laughed shakily. Dani closed the door behind her and slowly sat down beside Jamie against the tub. There were so many things she wanted to say, but she knew barraging Jamie would only make her shut down. So, she waited once more.</p><p>“I’m sorry.”</p><p>Dani turned to look at her.</p><p>“Hey, you have nothing - “</p><p>“Told ya I could sleep through the night.”</p><p>For a moment, Dani came up blank. And then she remembered that night in the hallway, before…</p><p>“It… it wasn’t the whole truth… ”</p><p>Dani could see Jamie tensing up again.</p><p>“You don’t have to - ”</p><p>“No, I do.”</p><p>Jamie finally turned to look at her again.</p><p>“I should’ve… you have a right to know. I’d just been hopin’ that - ”</p><p>Jamie cleared her throat and looked away.</p><p>“That it wouldn’t happen anymore if I was here.”</p><p>Jamie tilted her head down, until she was staring at the floor, then nodded. Dani sighed.</p><p>“I’m so sorry.”</p><p>Jamie whipped her head back up and turned to Dani, taking her hand.</p><p>“No, no, please don’t! It’s not your - ”</p><p>“That’s not why I said I was sorry.”</p><p>Jamie looked at her curiously. Dani took Jamie’s other hand, then faced forward.</p><p>“I haven’t slept well for most of my life. Constant anxiety dreams when I was a kid. My mother learned to tune me out pretty quickly.”</p><p>Dani felt Jamie squeeze her hands. She smiled slightly.</p><p>“Eddie and his mother, they would… they would come rushing every time, but that was… almost worst.”</p><p>Dani turned to Jamie.</p><p>“They meant well, of course. But I always felt like I had to… to reassure <em>them</em>. It was exhausting.”</p><p>Dani could see in Jamie’s eyes that her story was hitting home. She faced forward again.</p><p>“By the time Eddie and I… I’d learned to hide it pretty well, never woke him up.”</p><p>Dani took a shaky breath. Jamie squeezed her hands again.</p><p>“But after… I would get 3-4 hours, if I was lucky. And that was if I even tried to sleep.”</p><p>Dani turned back to Jamie.</p><p>“But then, something changed.”</p><p>Dani smiled, waiting for Jamie to take the hint. She was about to spell it out when Jamie finally understood.</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>Jamie started to smile, despite herself.</p><p>“Yeah, <em>you… </em>you did that for me. And I want to do it for you… but you have to let me.”</p><p>Jamie’s smile faded. She let go of Dani’s hands and looked away, clearing her throat.</p><p>“You need your sleep, especially… ”</p><p>Dani knew what she wasn’t saying. And yet, she couldn’t help but laugh. Jamie looked back at her in alarm.</p><p>“Jamie, what did I just say?”</p><p>Dani could see she was hopelessly lost.</p><p>“I need you with me, nightmares or not… otherwise, I won’t sleep well, either.”</p><p>Dani could see the gears turning now. It was making sense to Jamie, whether she wanted to accept it or not. Jamie faced forward again. After a few moments, she took a deep breath. Then, she stood up, turned to look back and offered her hand to Dani. Dani smiled proudly, making Jamie smile shyly, and took her hand.</p><p>Jamie led them back to the bed, stopping by the left side, the one closer to the bathroom, and gestured for Dani to climb in first. Dani cocked her head but complied nonetheless. Jamie followed behind her, taking Dani’s usual spot. She threw her right arm and leg across Dani and rested her head on Dani’s chest.</p><p>She felt Dani place one arm on top of hers and her other arm around her shoulder. She felt Dani’s hand get tangled in her hair, cradling her head. She felt Dani kiss the top of her head, then lie back.</p><p>Now, Jamie would have to break free enough to turn around if she started feeling the urge to retreat into the bathroom, or she would have to break free enough to climb over Dani to sleep on the floor where she’d been — either way, negating her aim of not disturbing Dani.</p><p>If she felt it coming on again… when she felt it coming on again — tonight, tomorrow, whenever — she would stay. She would ride it out, and Dani would ride it out with her.</p>
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